Look! An Organized Under-Sink Area

Organizing under the sink presents particular challenges: it's a dark area cramped with kitchen plumbing, and anything stored there is first in the line of fire if said plumbing gives out. Since these aren't the most fun conditions under which to organize, we often ignore this space, preferring to shove spray bottles and rubber gloves to the back and shut the door. Ann Marie, who keeps a blog called An Old Fashioned Girl, is clearly a better person.

The building blocks of Ann Marie's under-the-sink organizing system are rubber totes, and for good reason: they're waterproof, easily washable, and keep like items together.

Her next trick is copious and precise labeling. What's the point of "a place for everything and everything in its place" if you forget where that place is? Labeling makes this easy.

• An Old Fashioned Girl: Organizing Under the Kitchen Sink

Comments (40)

Please don't look under my sink...

Looks like I need to run to Target after work.

This looks great. But why label the dust pan?

ftpansy -- Agreed - LOL - since I think most can figure that one out without too much thought.

I wouldn't look under mine - forgotten appliances, tons of cleaning materials, extra rolls of paper towels, etc.

yeah something about those labels doesn't say "home" to me - it's very institutional... and passive aggressive...

Undersinks are ugly places... they shouldn't exist.

I'd add a couple of those slide-out shelfy things.

are the children, pets etc labelled?

Wow, that's a little anal. I just keep one plastic tub to collect all the cleaning supplies together on one side, and a paper bag on the other to catch all my plastic shopping bags. No need for labels . . .

4 bottles of dish soap?

Seriously what is up with the labels. If one cannot identify the dishsoap, perhaps organisation is not one's biggest problem.

Wow.. Some pretty harsh things written about my sink.
Is this supposed to be good or bad that I am linked here?

Is this site like "rate my space?"
To answer a few questions..

1- Yes.. I love my label maker. Is it a problem if I want to label my dust pan? I'm not telling you to do it.

2- My children are not labeled..

3- Yes.. I will admit to Anal.

4- 4 dish soaps? Nope.
1 is for hand washing
1 is Jet Dry a rinsing agent
and I have 2 bottles of cascade because 1 of the bottles was almost gone. I cannot believe that I have to defend myself over this!

I had no idea that I was being linked to this site. I value opinions about organizing.. But please quit attacking me and my style of it. I make suggestions to help people.

Maybe I missed a photo. It looked like the spot showing where to hang the dustpan was labeled, not the actual dustpan. Also, speaking of children, this system looks like it would make it easier for them to help out, reminding them (and perhaps any temporary visitor to your home) where to put the stuff back.

These labels!!!! Unless they are there for hired help what is the point? Sorry Ann Marie I've just read you comments, it is your home you must have let a spy in.

Personally I love it, labels and all. I'm a "word person," so I guess that's why I like it so much. You've inspired me, Ann Marie.

I personally think it's a great idea and can understand the calm feeling that comes from consistent labeling, obvious or not. I personally would also label everything just so that everything is labeled.

man, people here really love criticism.
i think it's a good idea, especially if you have kids or someone comes over to help with cleaning when you're sick.

i like it.

Obviously, the labeling isn't because she can't identify items. Please. Having everything clearly marked forces you (or makes it harder) to not be lazy and put things in the same place each time.

I could think of a few labels for the people who say inane things though. :)

This is a great system for an SO who isn't great at finding the basic elements for cleaning and gives up, or leaves everything in disarray under the sink when all the work is done. No room for error!

ann marie, please don't let the snark discourage you from posting here. Thanks for posting.

Love your cafe curtains, btw. They remind me of the linens my grandmother's shop makes in Poland. So intricate and delicate.

Very organized and very anal, but what is wrong with that? I think the labels might be good for my husband, who has been known to throw his dirty clothes right *next* to the hamper instead of in it. Perhaps it's passive aggressive too. ;)

I'm sorry, but this woman needs to step away from the label maker :O

And jamiealyse, I don't think it's labelling your husband needs, I think it's something stronger!

i like it. :-)

Love your labels! I'm a "word person," too. Labels help in maintaining an organizing system and avoiding creeping chaos.

I browsed your website's organizing ideas, and I was impressed. "Sheets stored under the bed" is inspired, and I'm going to copy that.

I looooooooooooove this. I want a label maker. It's a great way to remind yourself what goes where, and a polite (not passive-aggressive) way to remind the other people you live with too. After all, it will require just a tiny bit less mental energy to put things in the right place with the labels vs. trying to remember where they're supposed to go.

My husband loves to stash things away - but he stashes them in different spots every time so I have to go around and around the house looking for things before I can start anything. I'd LOVE it if he labeled where things were supposed to "live" for me.

Labels are fantastic, especially for a spouse or partner or kids that aren't great about returning things to their place. Also, another idea is one of those lazy susan, roundabout thingys that you can buy at Ikea, they are great for under the sink, you just spin it around to find the item you are looking for. I guess I am a little OCD because I agree, life can never be too organized.

I've been putting it all off..the under the sink..your sink/kitchen area is beautiful!!...I will get to it 'post haste' tonight..i'll have to rely on my eyeballs though..no label maker..thank you for your post!!

on second thought, the labels are actually cool, especially for the kids!

Y'all are mean! If a girl wants to label her stuff, don't get all snarky! Sometimes it's just fun to pull out the ol' Brother P-Touch and label everything after you've spent an afternoon organizing stuff. It's kind of satisfying. If you're not into it, wev. Get over it. I think the basic lesson - grab some rubbermaid bins and organize your under-sink stuff - is valuable. I did the exact same thing and I'm glad I did. Now I know if I'm about to run out of, say, extra dish sponges, because there aren't any more in the bin where I keep extras. No need to go digging through the whole cabinet to see if there's a sponge hidden somewhere.

I love it! I went a little label crazy in my spice cabinet, and I couldn't be happier with the result. I used small address labels, and my "nice" handwriting as identifiers. It helps with the homey feel.

That said, it is truly helping my husband. He is learning how to cook, and can't yet identify spices and herbs without the label. From what he says, It has been very helpful.

From the look of this I bet the rest of your home is immaculate!

I'm for labeling as much as the next person - all my spices are labeled. But it's a little anal when you get down to marking the basket that has dish soap when anyone who is able to read the label is also able to see the bottles and put two and two together.

For those who aren't used to my kitchen (or bathroom), I just tend to give them a quick run through of where things are and keep myself handy in case they still can't find anything -- though usually I am the one in the kitchen doing things and I already know where everything is (as in one cabinet holds all dishes, one cabinet for any kind of drinkware, etc).

To anyone who posts pictures of their home here, they should be ready for criticism...if they can't take it, they should have kept their photos off a public website. Obviously if you put them up, you are expecting feedback - and not all feedback is good unless you want to turn the world into a bunch of liars.

This one goes to jamiealyse - I doubt your husband will change his ways just because you put a label on the hamper. I would bet you at least a dollar he will ignore it just as much as he ignores the hamper. The only cure I found for that was threatening if I found another outfit on the floor I'd toss it - I didn't really toss it but it got hidden for a few weeks and slowly got placed back in the closet. Worked like a charm.

Chrisgal-
I did NOT post pictures of my home here.
When it is on my site I can delete comments like yours. I love to hear what people have to say. But when it is just attacking ME personally.. Then I have a problem.

Organize your home as YOU want. I have mine organized as I like it to be, and if I want to label the ceiling or walls I can do it because it's mine.

You seem to know it all. I would love to see your home.
You seem to have an answer and solution to everything.

Apartment Therapy: Savaging the World, One Room at a Time.

Ann Marie. As someone with the attention span of a gnat, I would totally love to have labeled storage. Right now I'm looking for my passport. I put it somewhere Safe. Where that Safe place might be is anyone's guess.

Also: In light of the rabies epidemic spreading through the AT community, it would be nice if the site asked permission before posting pictures from personal blogs.

I loved this post, but god! The comments! How terrible to have to defend yourself against such nastiness especailly when you never asked to be linked to in the first place. Ann Marie, you have a super blog and I appreciate the ideas on how to organize even if I don't have the inclination to implement them. I'm happy AT linked to you, otherwise I would never have discovered it!

There needs to be some moderating going on AT. Seriously, WTF? The comments on this site are getting to be a joke. Every kitchen update is met with scorn, every living room photo ridiculed if it doens't look like a mid-century hotel room, and now simple labeled baskets for cleaning supplies evoke nothing but bile. Nice, people. Nice.

this looks exactly like under my sink... even the plastic bags are in the exact same place!

ann marie -- So those aren't your cabinets in your home? LOL - as long as they are, you did post a picture of your home. Sorry but you don't get credit there. My kitchen is perfectly organized without needing labels...the rest of my home can be so-so depending on the day...but nothing so bad I'd have a panic attack if someone called and said they are dropping by.

Sure you can see my home - next time you are in Greenwood, Indiana, stop by.

Amphora- I love you.

ChrisGal, you seem to be missing the point.
ann marie didn't post her photos here, they were linked here by apartment therapy. it's her choice if she wants to post them on her own page with comments left open.

the amount of rude snark on this post is absurd.

^ due to the nastiness floating around this post i feel the need to follow up my comment. i asked whether ann marie's kids/pets were labelled. it really was intended as a light hearted joke.

ann marie, i really hope you didn't take offense from my flippant remark because i was just being silly. if you did, i'm sorry.

i recently had some pics from my blog posted by AT, which i'm grateful for as i've found some cool new readers. but i know i wouldn't be impressed if people were getting all bitchy-town about 'em.

I know this is late, but I never checked back on this post. I don't think asking why there is a label for the dust pan is snarky. I said it looked great. I just thought that particular label was unnecessary. It's not a big deal.